Getting Caught
by GrimmUlquigrrrl
Summary: Grimmjow, a professional theif for Las Noches, manages to be the first theif to ever steal from the Schiffer household- but only because his old classmate turned his back. But Grimmjow won't take that. Rated M for later!
1. Chapter 1

Grimmjow glared at the snow falling slowly just outside the window. He hated snow with a burning passion, really he did. He was glad he was inside where there was a warm fire and his boss droning lazily at him. Well, not that last part.

"Oi, dickhead!" Hiyori barked, her snaggletooth sticking oddly out of her mouth, and Grimmjow jerked his head to her.

"Whaddaya callin' me dickhead for, bitch?" he yelled, and Hiyori glared.

"You weren't listening!" she said. "Starrk, why do you want _him _to do it? I'm better!"

"Like hell you are, shortie!" Grimmjow shouted. "You don't have nothin' on me!"

"Yeah, minus the fact that _I _actually know what the mission is!"

Starrk, sitting on a red couch with his back to the crackling flames, sighed with his face resting on his hand. "Oi, oi," he said boredly, probably hoping that the lightning shooting between the two would settle. It didn't, and Grimmjow heard him sigh again. "Come on, come on now," the brunette said, but Grimmjow didn't look away from Hiyori. He wouldn't loose. "Hey, guys!" Scowling, Hiyori was the first to turn away, the anger at her obligation to her boss clear on her freckled face. Only then did Grimmjow look to Starrk, a triumphant smirk on his face. Starrk just shook his head.

"Jeez, you two can't work together for shit, can you?" he asked. "I guess that nixes _my _plan. I was going to have both of you go, but you obviously can't deal with that. I don't need you two caught." Grimmjow frowned. Was Starrk going to give this job- whatever it was- to Hiyori. Grimmjow kind of hoped so, if it was another way-too-easy one. He was tired of getting stuck with the boring stuff. "So, I'll send… Grimmjow, you go." Grimmjow huffed.

"Fine, fine," he said. "What do I gotta do?" Hiyori shot out of her chair and stomped out of the room angrily, obviously pissed that she didn't get picked, her flip flops smacking against her heels. Grimmjow's interest was now piqued. He grinned.

"You have to steal something from the Schiffer house," Starrk said through a yawn. Grimmjow's back jerked into straightness. Schiffer, as in…? "There's this real expensive jade dragon carving worth 8,400,000,710 yen. It's the most high-priced job we've ever been given, and the Schiffer house has never been successfully broken into."

"Yeah," Grimmjow said eagerly, "I know."

~!$%^&*()*&^%$!~&*()*&^%$!~

Grimmjow crept farther out on the branch he was on, inching closer. The dogs that Ulquiorra kept were all in their outside kennel, which happened to have no roof. They were clearly awake but, Grimmjow being the silent sneak he was, they hadn't caught onto him yet. It was pretty obvious, however, that they were starting to sense that he was there as they started to stand stalk-straight and growl, looking around. Grimmjow smirked. Stupid dogs.

He pulled a can of powder out from his pocket, one that had large Z's all across the label. One little flick and it was open, and Grimmjow held it out in front of him carefully as he sprinkled the yellow powder down onto the mutts. He held his breath until he could get the lid closed, remembering the last time he'd gotten a whiff of this stuff on a job. He'd ended up falling asleep partway through, after only a matter of minutes- that was how powerful this shit was.

The dogs quickly met the same fate, the growling quieting as the sleeping powder kicked in. it was Grimmjow's own special concoction, not that any other thief in Las Noches knew it existed. He'd put it in one of the standard, everybody-grab-one cans after emptying it of its former contents. Within moments the dogs were sound asleep, and Grimmjow was free to drop lithely from the tree.

He stood up and dusted his hands off, smirking meanly at the sleeping beasts. God, he hated dogs. They were noisy and smelly and just downright stupid. But he couldn't be thinking about that right then- he had a maximum of two hours to find the switchbox for the probably very expensive alarm system, get in the house, find the carving and get out of there before the dogs- or Ulquiorra- woke up, and the Schiffers' house was fucking giant. Stupid rich pricks. They always had been.

Grimmjow knew they wouldn't put the switchbox somewhere obvious, like in the bushes. He didn't even try that, instead casing over the whole house. He walked around and around, but he found nothing. So, it wasn't anywhere that a seasoned thief would naturally look… which left just the gutters and under the ground. Grimmjow jumped up, grabbing onto a windowsill to heft himself up, then onto the side of the roof. He did a chin-up, easily holding it as he looked along the gutters. They, like the rest of the house, were incredibly clean, as if a leaf had never fallen on this property. Grimmjow smirked; that made it easy for him.

There, that box. Sure enough, it looked to be a switchbox. Grimmjow hefted himself fully onto the black shingles and carefully lifted the lid. Yup, it was a switchbox alright. Grimmjow grinned. It certainly was sophisticated, but Grimmjow had been dealing with this stuff for years and his well-trained eye quickly picked out that there was an alarm set to go off if any of the wires were cut.

He stuck his hand in, grabbing the main wire. He didn't have to cut it at all, now did he? He grabbed his pocket knife and flicked out a pointed file that doubled as a screwdriver, unscrewing the panel of metal that hit the inner workings and cautiously pulled it out. He smiled. There, all he had to do was remove that piece. With a steady hand he plucked it out, sliding it away from the rest of the device. Then he pulled on the main wire, no longer having to fret about the alarm that would normally sound when he did, disconnecting it and turning off the security.

He silently slipped to the ground, looking over at the main door. It would probably be best to go in that way and leave it open. After all, if this carving was so expensive it was probably pretty large, so he couldn't count on getting it out a window. There was a pinpad and Grimmjow grabbed his fingerprint dust, knowing that if the Schiffers really wanted to ensure their security then the pinpad would be connected to a whole different switchbox, which would be inside the door. The dust wasn't exactly the CSI stuff exactly (actually, Grimmjow got it out of a child's detective game) but it worked pretty well. He dusted the pad and black fingerprints showed up.

He memorized the numbers before blowing the dust off. The longer the oil that made the fingerprint had been there the sooner the dust would come off, and he watched closely to see which numbers came when. He could tell from smear patterns that the 8 was hit twice in a row, which made the code 7188294. Awesome. He punched it in, and since he was already wearing his gloves he didn't have to worry about fingerprints. The door clicked, and Grimmjow allowed a moment of self-pride. He was in!

He carefully opened the door and stepped right in. no booby traps or wires any place in the vicinity, he noted. After all, no one had ever gotten in here before. Ulquiorra, overconfident shit that he had always been, probably thought that nobody ever would. Still, Grimmjow tread carefully, even as he scoffed at this giant house. The floors were back tile, the walls were white, and _everything looked like it cost more than what Grimmjow paid for his rent. He didn't see why anyone would need so much shit. Actually, there were barely any furnishings, but their apparent price was so outrageous that Grimmjow was surprised their security wasn't steeper. Anything in here would pay Grimmjow's salary for a year. _

_He crept down the hall, noting the time. Thirty minutes had passed, which meant that worst-case scenario Grimmjow only had thirty minutes left before the dogs woke up. He'd dosed then pretty heavily, but still. He would be careful._

_The initial hallway opened up on the right into a massive room with a medium-high ceiling. It had a flat screen, pricey looking black leather chairs, a fireplace, everything- including a rather large jade carving of a dragon hanging on the wall. The backdrop was square like a painting with the dragon and other things jutting off of it, which would make it easier to carry but heavier. Grimmjow checked everything over twenty times, but he couldn't find a single alarm. He couldn't believe that. Even the rich-ass Schiffer family would want a little extra protection on such an expensive item. Grimmjow looked behind it._

_As expected, there was the trap. A wire was attached to the back of the carving and disappeared into the wall, where it would likely pull an alarm when the carving was pulled away from the wall. Grimmjow felt himself smile like a happy little child- he was doing it, really, really doing it. He double and triple checked all of the wall behind the carving before carefully sliding his pocketknife behind it. He had to tie it to a thin stick, since his arm was too thick to fit back there without tripping the wire, but a little sawing action and he was good._

_He grunted softly as he removed his target from the wall. Holy fuck, this thing weighed a ton! He almost couldn't lift it, and that was saying something. He benched at 340 regularly. Granted, it was to be expected of a giant slab of rock, and he slowly and carefully lifted it off the wall. He had this. The stairs creaked as someone came down them. _

_Oh, shit. _


	2. Chapter 2

Grimmjow fought his panic. What should he do? He looked around- no place to hide. Should he put the carving back on the wall and try anyway or run? But his pride wouldn't let him leave without the damn thing. He _was_ going to be the first thief ever to steal something from the Schiffer house! He had made it this far, he wasn't turning back now. He frantically searched for anywhere that would hide him, and saw it- the room he was in morphed into the kitchen on the other side, and the pantry door was wide open. That thing was big enough for him, the carving, and three other thieves. He started toward it, the heavy jade in his grasp. The owner rounded the corner, and Grimmjow's eyes went wide. Shit!

Ulquiorra looked the same as he had in high school. The same chin-length ebony hair, the same too-pale skin, the same huge green eyes. He still had those weird tear tattoos, and he looked more built from what Grimmjow could tell under his pajamas. Ulquiorra just looked at him, as if it wasn't surprising in the least to find a thief in his house, but his head inclined just a little as if he recognized his old classmate.

Grimmjow stared at him, his mind failing to work as he realized that he had been caught red-handed. By Ulquiorra Schiffer. By _Mercielago. Forget going to jail- he was going to die. Ulquiorra's hair was mussed, making it clear that he had been sleeping, but his eyes were very awake. Oh, dear God. Time stretched on as Grimmjow froze, his heart thumping wildly. Ulquiorra simply held his gaze. _

_Then the man turned around and silently made his way back down the hall and up the stairs. Grimmjow listened intently until all sounds ceased. _

_He bolted. _

_~!$%^&*()*&^%$!~_

_Grimmjow crossed his legs, leaning back against the back of the chair. The carving was resting, tilted, against the wall, a guy by the name of Urahara inspecting it. The run here had been hella cold, and Grimmjow's lungs still stung from all the frigid air he'd huffed. But he was warm now, and he'd done it. _

_Both he and Starrk watched as Urahara hummed and stood. The blonde plopped his ridiculous hat back on his head again, smiling fakely. "Well, Jaegerjaques-san," he said, "congratulations. This is the real thing. You are officially the first person to steal from the Schiffer house. Go celebrate." Grimmjow didn't say anything, just watching the man as he walked out, leaning on the cane that only he and Starrk knew was a concealed katana. "Until the next time you need me," he said, waltzing out._

_Starrk turned and looked toward his new 1 thief. "Nice, nice job, Grimmjow," he said. "I'm going to go spread the word. Whaddaya say we get everyone together and go to that bar down in Las Noches? The one that guy Aizen owns? I'll buy." Grimmjow grinned wildly. _

"_Sounds good to me!" he said. Starrk nodded, standing up with a grunt and fishing out a huge wad of cash. _

"_Here you go," he said, handing it over. Grimmjow took it with none to little eagerness. It was heavy in his hand. "You've earned it." Grimmjow grinned maniacally to himself as Starrk walked out, leaving him alone. He had done it. He had really done it. He had stolen from the Schiffer house, facing Mercielago to do it, and had still gotten away to tell about tit. And he'd been paid handsomely for it. Hell, his boss was buying him a round!_

_So why didn't it feel like a victory?_


	3. Chapter 3

Ulquiorra lay in bed the next morning, not having slept a wink. Well, that had been… a blast to the past, to say the least. He hadn't seen anyone else from his small-town high school since he graduated years ago. Not a one of them had even heard of the college in this town, his Alma Mater. And to see Pantera… ah, it brought back memories. That brute had been, after all, the only one who had ever shown any feeling toward Ulquiorra. Granted, the feelings were generally frustration, anger and hatred that Ulquiorra was better than him, but as Ulquiorra never had any emotion towards others Pantera was the only one who ever bothered to have any emotion towards him. Ulquiorra had almost forgotten.

Well, there was no more time to spend reminiscing about high school, he decided. He was a grown man now, he had things to do. Such as, say, alerting the police. As much as he didn't care about that overly massive green _thing_ that Pantera had taken, if he didn't make at least a half-hearted attempt to get it back his father would be upset when he came back from Dubai- whenever that would be. Personally, Ulquiorra thought that his house was better furnished without that overgrown pebble, but ah well. He doubted that it would actually be found.

He hauled himself out of bed, not bothering to yawn or stretch. He could do that later, when he felt like it. It was, after all, Thursday, the one day of the week when Ulquiorra allowed himself to be as lazy as he pleased. Which, honestly, wasn't very lazy at all. He was a person who liked to keep moving. He stepped into the kitchen, starting a pot of tea as he picked up the phone.

"Hello?" Ulquiorra said. "This is Ulquiorra Schiffer."

"Good morning, Ulquiorra-kun!" the front desk woman, a ditzy but friendly college student whose name was, apparently, Orihime. He had seen her around. "Who can I patch you into?"

"The theft report department, if you would please," he said. Orihime gasped.

"Of course!" she said. "I'll patch you right through! I hope you get your stuff back!" _I don't,_ he though as a beep was heard. He picked the quietly whistling tea pot off of the burner and it quickly silenced.

"Hello?" a gruff sounding male voice said. "This is Muguruma Kensei. Whaddaya want?"

"This is Ulquiorra Schiffer," Ulquiorra said. "I wish to report a theft that occurred in my home."

"_Your home?" the detective scoffed. "You do know that you can be charged with up to a 1300 yen fine for prank-calling, right?"_

"_Whoever it was took a jade carving worth about 8,400,000,710 yen," Ulquiorra continued. There was a short, stunned silence. _

"_You're not kidding," Kensei said. _

"_They also managed to do something to my dogs, disable my security system, and fool my pinpad," Ulquiorra reported. _

"_Right," Kensei said, and Ulquiorra could hear him using his shoulder to hold the phone to his ear as he grabbed a pencil, pulling a clipboard to him and quickly writing it all down. "How much did you say this carving cost again?"_

_~!$%^&&*^%$!~!$%^&_

_Ulquiorra opened the door as he saw the detectives drive up. He held his steaming tea in his hand, wearing a dark red button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up to just below his elbows and baggy navy blue sweatpants. "Hello," he said. The detectives nodded. _

"_Good morning, Mr. Schiffer," one said. He was medium height with cold blue eyes and black hair tied into a ponytail. "I'm Detective Kuchiki, and this is my partner Detective Abarai. We are here to investigate a reported theft."_

"_Yes," Ulquiorra said. He stepped aside but did not welcome them in, allowing them merely to see down his hall. "In that room over there, there was a large jade carving hanging on the wall. It is gone." _

"_May we come in?" Detective Kuchiki asked pointedly. Ah, a headstrong man. _

"_No," Ulquiorra answered, leaning against the door frame and blocking their way in. He made it very clear that they were not welcome. _

_The other detective, one with oddly pulled up red hair and rather questionable black tattoos, burst out, "What? Why? You called us out here 'cuz something was stolen and you won't even let us investigate? What's up with-" Detective Kuchiki held his arm out stiffly, as if to hold his partner back, and Detective Abarai silenced. That didn't keep him from glaring, though._

"_I would like to know the answer to that as well, Mr. Schiffer," the more professional of the two said frigidly, as if he thought that Ulquiorra had lied about it being stolen. As if he could loose an 8x5 foot, 300 pound slab of rock. No apologies were made for the outburst. _

"_I don't care that it was stolen," Ulquiorra said, "I'm only interested in how he got past all my security. Which is all outside. I don't like having people in my house." This was both a justification as to why he didn't care about the carving and a reason why he wasn't letting them in. Detective Kuchiki looked dubious, but was clearly a man who didn't go sticking his nose in other people's business. Ulquiorra mused over why he would choose to be a detective. _

"_Very well then," the man said. "We will patrol the outside as much as we can. But understand that while we will do all we can to catch whoever did this, without seeing the inside there is no guarantee that he will be caught."_

"_That is perfectly fine by me," Ulquiorra said, closing the door in their faces. He walked into the room where a large empty space was now vacant on the wall. He sat and looked at it. They would do all they could, hm? Well, good luck to them. They would need it. He heard someone curse as the now fully awake dogs leapt against the walls of their kennel, barking at the intruders. _

_He sipped at his tea. _


	4. Chapter 4

Grimmjow stood in front of the Schiffer house, glaring up at it as it loomed, as white as the snow (which was still falling, dammit!) against the night sky. He wasn't sure why, but he'd felt the need to come back here. Granted he was just a little (yes, _just_ a little!) drunk still. They'd partied well into the next day. After all, this was huge- not just for Grimmjow, but for the whole business. Now his 'company' could claim that they had the only thief to ever, ever break into the Schiffer residence.

In fact, he was about to do it a second time.

Not to steal anything, though. He hadn't been hired to do this. He actually didn't know why he was here, but in his muddled mind it made perfect sense that he'd come. He had some sort of unfinished business here, not that he knew what it was. So he was here, and he walked with a little sway to the front door. He noted, a little dazedly, that there were footprints all around through the snow but didn't stop to wonder whether or not the people who made them were still there, or why they had come.

The dogs barked a little, but his smell still clung to some stuff, so they didn't see him as really trespassing. Grimmjow ignored the quiet whining, stumbling up to the door and pressing his fingers against the glowing pinpad. 7188294. The pad beeped, and he heard the door unlock. He stumbled inside.

Hell, it was so damn nice in here! He'd noticed it before, but… damn! He staggered around a little, turning in a few circles around himself as he gawked at everything. White, featureless walls, perfectly shiny black tile with white grout between them, grey granite countertops, dark-stained cherry wood wherever there was wood, black leather seating, a whole huge wall of mottled stone where the fireplace was… man, if this house were a woman Grimmjow would top her.

He tripped over into the room, the one room that he would always remember, the room that now had a large empty space on the wall against the couch. He'd done that. He grinned like a little schoolboy- he'd done that. _He'd _been the first to ever take anything from the Schiffer house. _Hell_ to the yeah. He laughed a little, swaying like a balloon in the wid. He'd done _everything_; he'd broke the security, he'd broke the pinpad, he'd broke the dogs, and he'd done it all on his very own. He giggled.

The windows were really little and up really high. Grimmjow stepped back to look out of them, tipping himself backward and squinting really hard. Hell, it was still snowing. It had been snowing when he came inside, and it was still snowing now. It had been, like, three minutes! Shouldn't it've stopped by now? He tipped a little too far back, and fell with a plop onto the table in front of the couch. He winced. Ow. What was this table made of, slabs of stone? He looked down. Oh. Apparently it was.

Past the wood-and-stone table he set eyes on the couch. Now _that_ looked like a comfortable couch. He clambered over the table onto it, and whoo-ee was it soft. His body heat quickly warmed the leather, and Grimmjow lay into the warmth. It was way to hella cold out there to leave. Grimmjow yawned and stretched out over the large piece of furniture, settling in. man, it was warm in this gigantic house.

He was asleep in no time.

!~$%^&*&^%!$%^&*(()^%!~

Ulquiorra sat on one of the two large black chairs, tea in his hand. He had already stoked the fire, and it crackled nicely and warmed the main level of the house. It would be needed today. He pulled his silver laptop onto his lap, opening it and pressing the power button.

The thin piece of technology slowly started up, humming as its screen came on. Ulquiorra patiently sipped at his hot drink, enjoying the taste on his tongue. There was a groan to his right from the lump on his couch as it slowly began to stir, waking from a very deep sleep. Ulquiorra kept his eyes on his computer and said dryly, "Well, so it awakes." Grimmjow heard his voice and shot up into a sitting position, eyes wide, before wincing and grabbing his ridiculous blue head. A hangover then? Ulquiorra had expected as much.

Grimmjow looked around, surprised. "Can you not remember anything about last night?" Ulquiorra asked coolly. He glanced over at Grimmjow and saw his stricken, oh-shit-no-I-didn't face, and he realized what Grimmjow must be thinking. Internally, he smirked. "I see. That's too bad."

"What? Why?" Grimmjow demanded. Ulquiorra caved to his cruel streak- he had only meant to worry Grimmjow with that last comment, but this proved to be a great deal of fun. He decided he would play with this just a little.

"Well, I just though a person like you would want to remember… something like that," Ulquiorra said nonchalantly, raising his tea to his lips, purposefully letting just one drop slide down his chin. He licked it up, flicking his tongue out in a way that he knew Grimmjow would take as inadvertently sexual. "I know I would."

Grimmjow looked stunned, nervous, intensely worried- but not disgusted, to Ulquiorra's surprise. Hm, this could prove to be far more interesting than he thought. "What do you mean?" the older of the two asked.

"If I were drunk," Ulquiorra reasoned, opening Document Word on his laptop, "I would at least want to have some remembrance of it. It was, after all, rather… interesting." Grimmjow blanched.

"_What_ was interesting?" he asked.

"What happened last night," Ulquiorra answered.

"But- _what_ happened last night?" Grimmjow asked, finally pushed to the point of exasperation.

"I haven't the slightest idea," Ulquiorra said. "Which was why I was hoping that you would know. You did somehow end up on _my_ couch, I would rather like to know why." Grimmjow's astonishment quickly turned into anger.

"Why, you-" he started, "you were playing with me, again!"

"I can't recall ever playing with _any part of you," Ulquiorra said matter-of-factly. Grimmjow growled at the sexual reference. _

"_God damn you, Ulquiorra!" he shouted, standing quickly and stomping off down the hall to the door. Ulquiorra could see him staggering from his headache. _

"_I doubt that He would give me enough thought to even do that," Ulquiorra said, sipping his tea. "Oh, and I would check the weather before you barge through the door." Then he sat there and waited as Grimmjow either took his advice or didn't. it wouldn't change the outcome. _

"_What the fuck?" Oh, so he had looked then. "We're snowed in!" _


	5. Chapter 5

Grimmjow rummaged through Ulquiorra's cabinets, looking for something that would help him with this damn hangover. " 'Thank you for that astute observation, Pantera,' " he mimicked in a too-high voice. "Gah, damn him!" It had always been like this with Schiffer, he always got insulted and put down, and for as long as he could remember Schiffer had done it like it was the most natural thing in the world, like there was some natural pecking order and Grimmjow was on the bottom of it.

This was going to suck. He was very, very stuck here with the man who, as a teenager, had made his life hell, and he wasn't getting out anytime soon. He had gone upstairs to see how high the snow was, because he couldn't see the top of it through the totally blocked out lower floor windows, and it was high enough that Grimmjow could step in and be in to his chin. And it was still snowing. No help would come for days, and in the meantime he had to try to survive Mercielago's wrath.

Actually, Schiffer had yet to say a thing about the stolen piece. In fact, he didn't seem to be giving it any extra thought at all. Not surprising; that was what Schiffer had always done, just forgetting about it and moving on. That bothered Grimmjow too, it was like nothing on earth held any importance to the other man. Grimmjow couldn't understand someone with no passion for anything.

He started as something white came up from below at his face. He looked down at the bottle of Advil where it hovered just below his nose- for a second he'd thought it was going to hit him. Ulquiorra was holding it up to him. "The last thing I need is to have you destroying things trying to find this," he said coldly. Grimmjow growled and snatched it from him.

"I don't need your damn help," he said angrily, glaring at the green-eyed demon who looked back at him calmly.

"Clearly, you do," Ulquiorra said. "Either take the pills or don't. Just don't go breaking things if you choose not to." Ulquiorra turned and walked back into the family room, and he didn't seem to have any hint of wariness at turning his back on a person who had never hesitated to attack him before. Grimmjow glared until there were holes scorched into the back of Schiffer's shirt, but he didn't try to start a fight. He wasn't going to say that Schiffer was a better fighter than him, but he had learned his lessons fighting him. You had to be on your best game, and with a hangover making his head throb he definitely wasn't.

He scowled and popped the Advil lid open, throwing who-knows-how-many back into his throat. This was a load of shit.

!#$%^&*()*&^%$#!#$%^Y&*()(*&^%$#

Grimmjow stalked back into the living room, entirely unsure of what to do. Honestly, he was actually kind of afraid to touch anything. Everything in this house was all shiny and perfect and totally expensive, and Grimmjow wasn't exactly a graceful ballerina- and with prim, proper, annoying-as-hell Schiffer watching his every move the last thing he needed was to break something.

Schiffer didn't look up from his laptop as Grimmjow came in, and that was one of the most infuriating things he did. It was like Grimmjow's existence was something so minor that Schiffer could just ignore it. Grimmjow had always hated that. He flopped heavily onto the couch, crossing his arms over his chest and propping his feet on the armrest, not taking his shoes off in spite. He expected Schiffer to order him to get his feet off the furniture or something, but Schiffer just sighed.

"Make yourself at home, Pantera," he said wryly, reaching to the side to grab his mug of tea.

"I think I will," Grimmjow said argumentatively, realizing that a fight would mean something to do, but Schiffer didn't react at all. The pale man just shook his head the way Grimmjow's father always had, that way that made it seem like he thought Grimmjow's antics were childish and foolish. Grimmjow hated that look. He lit up with a fire that burned right out his eyes as he glared at Schiffer.

"I won," he blurted out. "I put your dogs to sleep, I hacked your security system, I duped your pinpad, I noticed your trap wire. I _won. _Admit it, Mercielago, I _won._" He sat up, facing Schiffer and leaning forward intensely. He had to hear Schiffer _say _it, say that Grimmjow had finally bested him, after all those years of trying so wildly to. Schiffer just sighed again, emerald eyes slipping closed.

"Alright, Pantera, you won," he said, shrugging it off with a note of almost _tolerance_ in his voice. Grimmjow seethed. That wasn't what he'd needed- he'd needed anger, he'd needed hateful recognition, he'd needed denial, but all he got was a lie said to keep him quiet. He growled.

"Dammit, man!" he yelled, standing up, and for the first time Ulquiorra looked up at him emotionlessly. "Why the _hell_ did you let me do it? Why did you let me get away?" Schiffer just looked up at him, not threatened by his enraged aura.

"Because I disliked that carving," he said matter-of-factly. Grimmjow boiled, his hand clenching into fists as he stepped closer.

"What, so I'm your garbage man?" he cried. That made him _so_ mad, _**so**_ mad, and he felt the familiar but long-forgotten urge to haul off and break Schiffer's jaw. Every time he had ever tried, Schiffer had avoided him easily and pinned him against the wall. But that was years ago, wasn't it? Grimmjow had grown up. He was stronger than he used to be.

"Don't even think about it, Pantera," Schiffer said, seeing Grimmjow's intent and squashing it. He put his tea back on the side table, probably not wanting it to spill on his computer if a brawl started. "I have grown stronger as well." Grimmjow got even madder.

"Dammit, why do you always look down on me?" he asked. "Do you really think you're that much better than me?"

"Of course not," Ulquiorra said. "I think that you are worse."

"Fuck it!" Grimmjow yelled, though the term didn't make any sense in context. His head was pulsing, the Advil unable to combat the hangover when the weight of his anger was added to it. "You're such an ass! Do you say that shit just to piss me off?"

"Yes," Schiffer said, and for a moment Grimmjow was shocked. Wait, what? All those years, Schiffer had been egging him on? All those fights, Grimmjow had been playing right into his hand? "It fascinates me to see how passionate you get when you're prodded. Now sit down." Grimmjow got mad again, but he wasn't burning with it anymore. He glared a little.

"Hell no," he said, but he couldn't make himself stay in that room with Schiffer's disconcertingly empty eyes drilling into him. He stomped off, through the kitchen and into the room on the other side. He ducked behind the wall so Schiffer couldn't see him, ignoring the elaborately carved wooden table that he assumed Schiffer ate on.

He leaned against the wall. He couldn't believe it. All that time he had spent obsessing over hating the other man, he had really been being watched as entertainment. He got the sickening image stuck in his mind of him pinned to a board inside a picture frame like a dead butterfly, struggling under the view of the microscope. He shuddered. What had he been doing ever since freshman year? Was Schiffer the only one who looked at him like that, or was he a walking freak show? Did Starrk see him that way? What about Hiyori? Or that weird Urahara guy? Disgust welled up in him.

He was he going to survive this?


	6. IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

MY APOLOGIES, I REALLY HATE PUTTING AN ANNOUNCEMENT UP LIKE THIS, BUT PLEASE PLEASE READ THIS AS IT IS VERY IMPORTANT.

Two people have read this story and accused me of is true that this story does parallel a lot with another story, but I didn't plan for that or anticipate that. I _did_ read the first chapter or two of that other story, and this popped into my mind, but I didn't know that it would so closely correlate with what the author of that other story would write from that point on. I assure you that the plot line may be based loosely off of that story, but it does take a very different course later on and I had no intention to plagiarize at all when I started writing this. I know I haven't gotten to the point yet where you can tell, but this is an entirely original plot line except for the beginning circumstances that draw the two together. I apologize for upsetting anyone who has noticed, and that this story so far does appear to be plagiarized, but I assure you that it is not. I consider it to be very natural for an idea to be borne from another person's idea, and I know you can't rag on me for that since this IS a fanfiction site and EVERYTHING here is based off of another person's idea, but again I promise that I had no intention of plagiarism or anything of the like.

And as to any concern towards my other stories, I can once again say that they are not in any way plagiarized. You can search the internet, but even if you find a story that parallels them I have never read it and they may even be plagiarizing me. I'm sorry for any lack of faith you now have in me, but I promise that I am in no way a plagiarist. My sincerest apologies, to the readers and to the author of that other story.


End file.
